House mail-box



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. RINGEN. HOUSE MAIL BOX. No. 497,214. Patented May 9, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN RINGEN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

HOUSE MAIL-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 497,214, dated May 9, 1893.

Application filed July 18,1892. Serial No. 440,352. (No model.)

T0 on whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, JOHN RINGEN, of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in House Mail-Boxes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved box for holding letters and papers, and which is designed to be used to' hold such letters and papers as delivered by mail-carriers, and my invention consists in features of novelty hereinafter fully described and pointed out in the claims.

Figurel is a front elevation of my improved box. Fig. II is a vertical section, taken on line IIII, Fig. I. Fig. III is an edge view. Fig. IV is a detail view. Fig. V is a front view, showing the box attachedto a door and illustrating how the door jamb is utilized to keep the box from being opened until the door is opened. Fig. VI is a horizontal section, taken on line VI-VI, Fig. V. Fig. VII is a front view, illustrating how the box may be opened when the door to which it is secured is open.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the box, preferably provided at the back with ribs or flanges 2, which rest against the house door, or other object to which the box is secured, permitting the free escape of moistore and permitting the box to be secured astride a molding or other irregular surface on the door.

3 is a cap covering the upper end or mouth 4 of the box and which is pivoted to the box at 5, so that it can be raised up to insert the letters in the box.

6 represents a series of fingers arranged across the upper end of the box to prevent possibility of letters being removed without opening the box. These fingers fit in slots or openings 7 in an inwardly extending bulge 8 of the upper end of the back 9 of the box.

10 is a plate secured to the back of the box, and which, with the bulgeS forms a chamber 11 in which fit the enlarged ends 12 of the fingers 6. It will be seen that the fingers 6 come in contact at 13 with the front 14: of the box, and prevent the removal of the letters,

and it would be extremely difficult to remove a letter by inserting an instrument, as the letter would be apt to come against the free ends of the fingers and moving them outward against the point 13 of the front of the box would prevent the removal of the letter.

The front 14 of the box is hinged at one corner, as shown at 15, so that to open the box the front has to be moved into the position shown in Fig. VII, the front turning on the pivot 15. There is an advantage in thus pivoting the front of the box (when the opening of the frontis to serve as an access to the box) for this reason: The box is intended to be secured to a house door and to avoid the necessity of providing a lock to the box, it is secured to the hinged side of the door, with one side of the box close up against the door jamb. The door of the box can only be opened in the direction of the arrow, Fig. V, it being held from movement on its pivot in the other direction by any suitable means, such, for instance as a rabbet 18 on the edge of this side of the box, which, projects beyond or flush with the outer surface of the door. The box being thus secured to the house door, and the house door being closed, it will be seen that the jamb 17 will prevent any possibility of the front of the box being opened, as it will come in contact with the jamb 17. When the door 16 is opened on its hinges, the box will be moved away from the door jamb,

so that its front can be thrown up, asshown in Fig. VII, and access to the box thus obtained.

It might, in some instances, be desirable to lock the boxindependentlyof the house door, and for this reason I have provided the body of the box with a perforated ear 19, and the front of the box with a perforated ear 20 to receive a lock 21, as shown, but ordinarily such a lock would be unnecessary, in view of the lock which is afforded by pivoting the front of the box as described, and securing the box to the house door in the position stated.

The box will be fastened to the door by screws passing through its back 9, see Fig. VII.

The front of the box is preferably provided with a glass 22 protected by a shield 23, so

that the presence of letters in the box can be observed without opening the box. In practice I prefer to form the front 14: of the box in one part with the side 14, as shown in Fig. VI, but it is evident that the side 14. of the box may be formed integral with the back 9, if preferred.

14 represents a projection on the front of the box, or on the side 14, which may be grasped in opening the front.

24 represents a diagonally extending plate secured across the front of the box, and between which and the box there is a space 25 (see Fig. VI), for holding papers or printed matter. The plate 24 is secured at its ends to the side and bottom so as to form a space for the pivoted front 14 to swinginto and out of, there being a free opening between the box and the lower end of the plate for the passage of the front.

It is evident that the fingers 6 might be reversed so that their free ends would be presented toward the back wall of the box instead of toward the front wall, as shown in the drawings.

I claim as my invention 1. A mail box having a pivoted front, pivto the door jamb and having an eccentrically swinging front pivoted in one corner, in combination with the door 3' amb for holding the front in locked position, substantially as set forth.

3. A mail box to be secured to a doorclose to the doorjamb and havingan eccentrically swinging front, pivoted to the upper corner of the side of the box farthest from the jamb in combination with the door jamb which engages the swinging front and secures it in closed position, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of the mail box, the plate 24.- extending diagonally across the face of the box and secured to one side and the bottom of the box so as to afford a space for the reception of the papers and the passage of the pivoted front,and an eccentrically pivoted front or door 14 pivoted atits upper corner and adapted to swing into and out of the space between the plate 24 and the box, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a mail box, the combination of the plate 9 formed with the slotted bulged portion 8 at its upper end, the fingers 6 projecting through the slots of the bulged portion 8 and having heads 12 resting in said bulged portion, a plate 10 covering the bulged portion, and asuitable mail opening at the upper end of the box, substantially as set forth.

JOHN RINGEN. In presence of- GEO. H. KNIGHT, E1). S. KNIGHT. 

